WKU Police

Three finalists have been named in the search for Western Kentucky University’s next police chief. Each of the candidates will interview in private before the search committee and speak in open forums next week.

The finalists include Jim Hyde who retired as the assistant chief of the Bowling Green Police Department in 2016. Another finalist is Mitch Walker who has been with the WKU Police Department since 2012 and has served as interim chief for the past year. The third finalist is Tom Saccenti who is currently the police chief at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

A former campus police chief is suing Western Kentucky University after the school commissioned an investigation into his leadership. Robert Deane says the school created a hostile work environment after the report was released, and forced him to retire.

WKU Vice President of Student Affairs Brian Kuster and Leadership Strategies Group, which wrote the report, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Deane’s complaint alleges negligence and defamation after a newspaper article was published based on the report.

At approximately 1 a.m. Saturday, a male student at Western Kentucky University jumped from the sixth floor of Pearce-Ford Tower (PFT). According to WKU Public Affairs, he was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he is in critical condition. The family has been notified.

WKU Police are investigating. No evidence of alcohol or drugs was found in the initial police search of the room.

PFT has quarter inch thicktempered glass windows. There is a window stop that only allows the window to open three inches. A police search of the room found the window stop to be in place and that the window was properly closed. The glass to the window was broken.